


Best Friend

by asmaanixx



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-04 00:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10978215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asmaanixx/pseuds/asmaanixx
Summary: "Johan.""Hmm.""Are you my boyfriend?" Judai asked innocently, playing with a loose thread on Johan's sleeve.





	Best Friend

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This has way too much going on. Apologies if it got confusing along the way.

"Johan."

"Hmm."

"Are you my boyfriend?" Judai asked innocently, playing with a loose thread on Johan's sleeve.

"Why do you ask?" Johan inquired, peering down at the boy who was snuggled neatly against his chest.

"People have been asking what we are and I'm not really sure what to say." He explained, stretching his legs out.

"I don't like that word." Johan revealed. "The term, boyfriend, I don't know... I guess because it's been used so long in relation to a girlfriend, it automatically creates an assumption that one is the boy and the other is a girl? I don't know how to explain it really well. I just don't like the way it sounds. I feel like it doesn't fit me." He leaned back and felt the rough bark of the tree prick him through his clothes. 

"Do you have something you want to be called by?" Judai asked, softly rubbing Johan's arm.

"I don't know. I guess, I never really thought about it." Johan answered honestly. In fact, he had never thought he would be lucky enough to have a meaningful relationship where things like titles mattered so much. He knew that his relationship with Judai was different compared to Jim, Kenzan, Shou and the others but having to add labels somehow made it a little more official. It was as if he was being placed into a box that he couldn't get out of even he wanted to. "Do you have something you want to be called by?"

"No." Judai answered. "I didn't know that it mattered so much."

"Doesn't Shou have any suggestions for you?" Johan teased, resting his chin on top of Judai's head.

Judai scoffed dismissively. "Please don't even get him started. Did you know he had brought up the idea that he and I could be reincarnated pharaohs like Yugi-sama and Kaiba-sama?" Johan laughed. "I don't know about him but I'm not interested in having a thousand year old spirit living inside me. There's just something about it that had rubbed me off in the wrong way."

"Aww, I'm sure he meant it all in good fun." Johan soothed, rubbing a hand up and down on Judai's arm. "After all you are is his  _aniki_." He sang much to Judai's annoyance.

"Another title that he bestowed on himself.  _On the same day_ , might I add. I barely even knew him and he started calling me his brother. Do you know how weird that was? I came to Duel Academy to become the next King of Games, not a babysitter." Judai ranted without pause.

"Judai, don't be so rude." Johan scolded. "He had to have seen some good qualities in you if he called you his brother. I mean, doesn't he already have a brother?"

"Yeah. Ryo-sama. He was great when he was here but... then he lost to Edo, and he wasn't the same. He became more colder. More distant." Judai's voice trailed off as he thought back to the huge change that Kaiser Ryo had to go through.

"Well, it's not a surprise that Shou is trying to find his brother in you, now is it?" Johan suggested. "He needs someone to guide him, to motivate him when he falls."

"But that's not my job, now is it? I didn't ask to be his brother. He just made me into one and now I have to live up to his expectations? Why?" Judai argued.

"Granted, you didn't ask to be his brother, but you are a leader figure to many people on this island. It's only natural that they will look up to you and try to follow by your lead." Johan tried explaining but Judai remained adamant on his stance.

"Again, another job that I didn't ask for. Johan, I didn't ask for any of these things. All I want to do is become a good enough duelist so that I can be called the next of King of Games. That's it."

"And what are you going to do when you get that title?" Johan asked, his voice rising just a little. "What good will it do you if you won't have your friends to cheer you on and celebrate with you?"

"Are you saying you won't be there when I do?" Judai asked, letting the increasing tension create a physical distance between him and Johan.

"No, I'm saying that I will be there to congratulate you and that will be it. A shallow cheer for a shallow victory. Suitable, don't you think?"

"Why are you being so mean?" Judai's eyes dimmed and remained focused on the flattened grass.

"I'm sorry if I am but it's true. Judai," Johan held his hand, "You have to decide what type of duelist do you want to be. Yugi-sama got the title for King of Games by winning duels. That is true. But those duels got meaning to them because of the huge stakes that they had. The Paradox brothers was his and Jonouchi-sama's first tag duel. The duel at Battle City? At the docks? They were both anchored to the sea and it wasn't just their dueling skills that were being tested, but their bond of friendship was as well. Every single duel that Yugi-sama has been in had meaning to it. Yes, he had the ocassional duel here and there that were just fun and games, but he knew when to buckle down and get serious."

"I can get serious too!" Judai cried out defensively.

Johan's shoulders dropped. "When Shou was all tied up, you were having fun in your duel with Axel. Did you once pause to think the amount of danger he was in?"

"But you were there..." Judai mumbled, shifting awkwardly in his seat.

"And if I wasn't? What would you have done if Kenzan and I weren't there? Would you have carried on having fun while Shou kept dangling for his life?" Johan snapped. He knew he was being harsh on Judai but he had to get his points across now while he was on a roll. "Judai, as you try to achieve greatness, the amount of people who want to bring you down is only going to get higher. And believe me when I say that they will use and do anything and everything in their power to get what they want."

"People have tried before." Judai mumbled, feeling dejected. "Asuka, Chronos Sensei, Manjoume, Misawa. They were all taken and I had to bring them back."

Johan remained silent, choosing to silently observe Judai rather than engage him in another banter. He looked so broken. So small, and so weak. Like he had been enlisted for war and he was being shipped out against his will.

"Judai, have you ever talked to someone? About the things that you've went through?"

"Like what?" Judai asked, blinking a few times to clear away his daze.

"Like," Johan exhaled, "I don't know, the whole being brainwashed thing. Or you not being able to see your cards, going to another planet. Or having to see your friends be placed in coffins?"

Judai scrunched his brows. "No... who would I even talk to about all this?"

Johan felt a physical jolt to his body. "Anyone! Shou, Asuka, Misawa, Manjoume, I don't know," Johan spluttered, "Hane Kuriboh!" He offered for a lack of options. "Anyone?"

"Well, Shou is afraid half the times, I can't really bother him with all my issues. It'll just worry him more. And Asuka... I don't know... she's a girl and you can't really share some things  with girls, now can you? Misawa always talks in techno babble and I can't really ever understand him and Manjoume... well... every time he sees me he either wants to duel me or tells me to piss off and leave him alone."

"But you have to have a best friend!" Johan insisted, his frantic eyes refusing to believe that Judai had to deal with all this shit on his own.

"I-I," Judai looked away. "I don't think I do." His voice cracked, and the rims of his eyes watered. "I don't even know what a best friend  _is_."

"Well," Johan began, falling back against the tree. "A best friend is someone whom you can go to with all your problems without feeling like you're being judged. They're there for you during the good and the bad. Someone who won't be afraid to set you straight when the situation calls for it."

"Do you have a best friend?" Judai asked, peering intently at the teal haired boy.

 "Sure I do. I have my Crystal Beasts." He said proudly as Ruby ran up his body and settled themselves onto his tummy.

"They can't be your best friend!" Judai protested. "You said, they were your family. Best friends can't be family."

"Why not?" Johan asked, defensively. "My Crystal Beasts have been there for me when no one else have."

Judai gripped blades of grass in his hands and ripped them out of their roots. He didn't want to cry but he couldn't help the tears that flowed out. "How can they be your best friends? They're duel spirits..."

"Judai..." Johan whispered, feeling his heart break. "You can speak to spirits too. Have you never...?"

Judai slowly shook his head. Judai never conversed with his spirits in matters that weren't directly related to dueling or strategies. He had never seen the reason to do so considering they were merely spirits. It's not as if they could actually create a tangible difference in the world.

"You should try." Johan advised. "They will help you out in ways that you couldn't have possibly imagined." He smiled softly as he looked down on Ruby's sleeping form. "I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't been here."

"How do I... talk to them?" Judai asked a little apprehensively, finishing off with a sniffle and a lazy hand over his face to wipe way his tears.

"The same way you talk to me."

"Can't I just talk to you?" Judai nervously pulled on the inside heel of his shoe.

"Of course you can silly." Johan chuckled, opening his arms for Judai to fall into. "You can talk to me whenever you want."

Nearly an hour had passed since Judai's tears had dried up against Johan's clothes and the two began to stir awake by the incessant chirping of the birds nested above them. Upon opening his eyes, Judai asked Johan a question he had fallen asleep to.

"Johan, is a best friend's love unconditional?"

"Yes." The answer came without missing a heart beat. "A best friend is like a shadow, a mirror," He chuckled as he thought of another reference. "Like a star. You may not always see them, but you know they're there."

"Unconditional, eternal love. No judgment." Judai mused before he rested his eyes once more.

Judai slept wondering if Johan would be his best friend.


End file.
